Galatians 6
Aug 4, 2024 2024-08-04 Ben Hoyer Galatians 6The closing message of the Galatians series, covering chapter 6, where Paul summarizes his appeal that believers not submit to the law as the basis of their standing with God, emphasizes mutual support within the community, and makes his final appeal centered on the cross.
Read transcript
Auto-generated from the audio — may contain errors.
For the rest of us, we are finishing up Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia this morning. So we're in Galatians chapter 6. And it's been fun, like for me, just to kind of get kind of into Paul's language a little bit. Sorry about that. And think about the setting and the context that he's writing these letters in.
Just a quick reminder, remember that Galatia is a region, not a town. There's at least three cities that he visited there and started churches. The churches in Galatia are the villages in Galatia where he started these churches, are the ones who came together and stoned Paul after he was at the third one, wrapping up this tour. They all came from all of them together and stoned him and he left him for dead, but he didn't die.
He revived and walked back into the towns to continue preaching the gospel. And then he completed his journey and went back to Antioch and they started to figure out or try to figure out what does it mean to now live under the reign of Jesus. Paul described to us that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah who set up now the king of all kings. He will return, but we can live under his reign now. And then they started to have questions.
How do we live under the reign? And one of the dominant questions that happened in the churches in Galatia is, what does it mean to be a follower of the way of Jesus? Does this mean that we are Jewish or something different? What we've been uncovering a little bit, and I just want to remind you, is that there are several undertones to that question for first century followers of Jesus in Galatia. Because all those towns in Galatia are part of the Roman Empire.
So like the most distant echo in the letter, the thing that you have to dig the furthest to find and maybe has small relevance on them, but not nothing, is that when you're in the Roman Empire, you're compelled into this emperor worship, the cult of the emperor. And you have to do specific things in order to participate in the marketplace, in order to maintain your Roman citizenship, you have to worship the emperor in specific ways.
But there were enough Jewish folk who had been around long enough that if you were Jewish, you had a special exemption from the emperor cult, and so you didn't have to do the emperor things. So in some sense, these followers of the way of Jesus were at a cross point, because they knew enough to know that Jesus was the king of all kings, that they ought not worship the emperor as though he were the king. And it would be easy to slide in and say, we're Jewish, we fall under that exception.
So they had one pole to go, we're Jewish, actually. This is not anything different. So Paul, we should go in and follow the traditions and the laws of Judaism. The other, more pressing, which comes into the New Testament more often, is that the Jewish church was actively persecuting the followers of Jesus. So part of the reason that Antioch and Asia Minor becomes the hotbed of first century Christianity,
and not Jerusalem, is because all the Jews in Jerusalem were persecuting the followers of Jesus and pushing them out. And so the people, the followers of the way of Jesus in Galatia would have had two kind of parallel temptations to consider themselves just another form of Judaism. One, it makes it easier to avoid the empire cult. Two, it avoids the persecution of the Jewish folk. And of course, then Paul is coming on hard through all the letters of Galatians
using every argument to tactic he can find to say, please, Christians in the churches in Galatia, don't submit to the laws of Judaism as though your position as the people of God was dependent on your ability to do the right thing. He says, because it is not. He says, of course, it once was, but in Christ he has done it all, and he calls us back to the commitment
that God made to Abraham and said, remember at the very beginning, the people of God, their position and place in the world was dependent on the prerogative of the Creator God, not on their individual choices from day to day. Not how well you follow the rules and keep the laws. And so here at the very end of his letter, he kind of tries to summarize those points
and drive home the call that says, here is how now we ought to live as we wait for the return of the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. In Galatians chapter six. He does a little bit at the beginning of chapter six, which we don't have time to get into it, but it's like it's about the collective living and the supporting of each other. Paul is quick always to say that following Jesus is not an individual move, but a collective one.
And we find the fullest experience of living under the reign of God as we gather in churches and communities in meaningful relationships with one another where there's mutual dependence, where we need one another, recognize the need and act on it, support and give in dynamic. He said, they'll know the way, they'll see the fullness of God's love in the way that you love one another. And then the inverse, he says also is true in other places. You'll experience the fullness of God, of the love of God to the degree that you let another one love you
and love another one selflessly. So he goes into that first part of chapter six, but I want to skip down to verse 11 in chapter six. Because this is where he's really kind of summarizing the whole letter and trying to make his final appeal. Last, sorry, before we get here. It's worth reminding you like why this is such a big deal to Paul briefly and then you'll see it again here.
But I mean, I said this a couple of weeks ago, but how deeply must you be convinced of something to like have a group of people actively like try to kill you, a group of people who know how to kill folk, and have done it before, try to kill you and leave you for dead.
Walk away, assuming they did their job, and then you come back to them and say the same thing. You go back into the same place where they killed you and you do the same thing. Remember when the disciples, Jesus is wanting to go back to Jerusalem and they're like Jesus, why would we go back there? You know they want to kill you. And it's like for this reason I have come. And Paul stands up after they left him for dead and he's resuscitated and he's with his crew. And you know they got to be, let's get out of here.
And Paul says, no man, let's go back. How convinced must he be of the kind of eschatological reality, the cosmic truth, that the person of Jesus is the way into, as we told the kids, everlasting life. Something broader and deeper, more significant and real than the world that you find yourself in.
Paul is eternally convinced of this. And with passion and conviction, he argues, don't live as though your eternity depended on yourself. Let it be dependent on Christ. It matters. Verse 11 of chapter 6, see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand. He's like, dude, that guy, this is me. I'm not like, nobody's positioning myself as somebody different. It's those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be
circumcised and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. You see what he's saying? He's saying it's those who want to, first he says, make a good showing in the flesh, which is going to come up later, which we'll explain in a second, but who would force you to be circumcised only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. This is what I was referring to, that there's a group of people following the way of Jesus
or trying to in the churches in Galatia. They've been convinced maybe of the message of Paul or they've come from Antioch and they're trying to live according to the way of Jesus as though he were their king right now. Preparing for when he comes back in fullness, we live as though he is the final authority now. It's kind of hard because it's hard to live as though Jesus were king because a lot of other people would like to be king. The emperor would like to be king, the Jewish leaders would like to tell us what to do. So the Jewish Christians, the Jewish folk church is going to
persecute us and the folks at the marketplace and the Roman authorities are going to persecute us. You guys, this would all be easier if we just do the circumcision and the feast days and the festivals. And Paul is going to do you see what is driving their choice? It's not the lordship of Jesus, it's their ease and comfort. And of course no one is tempting you towards circumcision for your
holiness I'm sure. Or like pressing you to observe the feast of tabernacles in order to be holy and one of us. But there are cultural pressures to redefine the way of Jesus.
I was listening to an interview yesterday while I was like doing my Saturday chores and they were interviewing this theologian that I really like. They were saying about how he doesn't fit categories. And so they were asking him, would you consider yourself more conservative or more liberal
theologically? And he said neither, man. I'm not loving this, nothing's binary, right? He's like the best category is this post liberal. He's like a conservative approach. The theology is shaping often their picture of God based on their understanding of what the right move is. And a liberal or progressive is doing the same. He's like we can't remake God according to our notions of love
or justice or generosity or mercy. And so often these categories are defined by others interpreting based on the world today. But he said it comes from outside of us. The story in person of Jesus stands his truth and then comes back and looks us in the face. And Paul is saying these folks are motivated not by Jesus being in charge but by looking at the world and go how do I navigate
the particular political and cultural landscape in a way that I come out as unscathed as possible. And then I'll redefine holiness or justice or righteousness, these big words based on what the world is telling me. And Paul's like don't do it, man. Be weird. Be outside the categories. And then so he goes further for even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law.
But they decide to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. This I was chuckling because he's saying that hey these Jewish Christians are trying to bring you into a system that they can't live up to. And most of us in the room have encountered that. In college it was the joke that like the difference between we went to an Anglican church in college and the joke when we were in college was the difference between an Anglican and a Baptist is that the Anglican will say hello
to you in the liquor store and the Baptist will pretend he doesn't see you in the liquor store. He's saying look they're trying to load these rules on you so that you fit inside of their notion of right and just and holy but it's a fool's game. They can't even live up to their own notions of right justice and holy. And so they're going to load on you this burden that they can't even
carry. Why step into it? He said okay and then he's like in the end they just he says it's crazy how relevant this is. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. I was trying to figure out what that mean. I had to read it to learn. He's saying so that they can celebrate that they added more to their crew. Hey we took the churches in Galatia there with us the Judaizers right? They're one of
us. They just want to add to their number. I had a this is kind of brutal so forgive me but I had a conversation with a pastor friend this week and he was saying something about what he was trying to do and the punchline is like dude I just I refuse to believe that our goal as pastors in the world
is to count how many people we can get in a room on Sunday morning. As though we win by having the most people in the room on Sunday morning. Like and how often like being church is reduced to showing up somewhere and Paul is like this is in first century and he's saying it. It's not a new temptation of the church to load up rules that we can't live under and to reduce following Jesus
to showing up somewhere. Paul's like don't do it. Why does Paul risk his life over and over again try and convince people not to reduce the way of Jesus to rules they can't live up to and belonging to some club and showing up somewhere because Paul has been captured by something that he thinks is true. Deeply true and easy to forget and doubt in a world of competing challenges
right and he's about to say what it is. Verse 14 but far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What they would say is do you belong to Paul or do you belong to us and Paul is trying to say look I'm telling you they're just trying to count your numbers but I don't want to count your numbers I just want to boast in this one thing that you trust in the cross of Christ that you trust in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been
crucified to me and I to the world. Paul this is his thing over and over again you know in Corinthians he says this in Romans he says this in Colossians he says a version of this too he says and you who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh God made alive together with him having forgiven all your trespasses by canceling the record of debt
that stood against us with his legal demands this he set aside nailing it to the cross he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him his thing always is at the cross two things well lots of things happen but two things he's pointing out here he says if I be it for me to boast but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world and his first thing that he says in Colossians again
is that the the cross is the complete forgiveness John calls it the propit appreciation the complete satisfaction of all your shortcomings and failures he says why step back under a system that you know you can't live under when Christ has resolved all of the shortcomings in the past
in the moment now and all those to come why count your failures and successes to keep all the rules when you know it's short and Christ says you don't have to don't put your hope in your ability put your hope in the work of Christ the finished work so that why am I any good because for some godly reason Christ loves me why do I have any future at all
look I may be good at strategy and scheming I may be good at networking or selling but my my little stratagems and schemes my retirement plan my relationship stratagems right my like work track plan or pathway all of those things can fail
and the cross of Christ stands yet so for you the same is true your life is made up of work and friendships and future plans and current hopes and he says the cross of you have died to all of it we put our hope in the cross of Christ and
then he says the world to me and this one I really like I was thinking whenever I think about the world that's the world dying or the world dying to me I think about trees I really love trees when I was young we had this amazing tree right down the road a block away from our house one of those big live oaks that we get here where the trees go the branches grow down to the ground
and come back up you know and when I was little my granddad in his 60s would come down from Missouri and he loved that tree and we'd go climb that tree together you know and then like a block away from there I told you one time we built this coolest tree house when I was in high school I convinced my friends I taught a tree climbing class at the community college I would go and climb trees you know when the kids were little we'd climb trees together this two years ago we we accomplished a life goal of mine since I was a kid went out and saw the giant sequoias have you stood in the
presence of a 2,000 year old living thing it's phenomenal like some of the most ancient living things in the world standing there and doing what slowly dying right slowly in the fabric of every tree that grows and lives a 2,000 years how many lifetimes is that more than I can count and yet its days are numbered and in the fabric of its cells is woven the end
of its days you can't separate out death from the life there and same for each of us everything in the world is slowly decaying and dying and each of us in the room our bodies right I remember reading the first time when you cross 25 is when you start having more cells die than new cells being made
in your body until you're 25 there's more cells being made than are dying right so you're growing and but once you cross 25 it flips you know there's more dying than new ones being made all of us are experiencing that to some degree and Paul says this world is dead to me the the cross of Christ has accomplished my propitiation but not only that separated me from this dying world
Jesus as the first fruits of the resurrection comes and goes and says if I go I'm going to prepare a place for you and so Paul says do you just try and stone me if you want I come back just to let you know until you finish the job that the way out of here is the cross of Christ this deep cosmic reality that that lets me die to
the world and the world die to me for he says by which the world has been crucified to me in eye to the world for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision but the new creation that the cross of Christ means you have died to the world and the world has died to you and that's not enough something new has been brought forth in you that can live that does live that will live
in the world without end this was the the verse that Terry read for our called of worship I was researching this new creation and I was so energized this was a new prophecy for me that I hadn't seen but God through the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before the person of Jesus promises that he will make all things new I did not know this was in the Old Testament this says the Lord heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool uh oh but oh sorry first chapter 65 verse 17 for behold I
create new heavens and new earth and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind but be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create for behold I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people no more shall be heard in this uh in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress no more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not fill out his days for the young man shall die a hundred years old and the sinner a hundred years old shall be a curse they shall build houses and inhabit them they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit they shall not build uh and another inhabit and they shall not plant and another eat for like the days of the tree shall the days of my people be and my chosen chosens shall long enjoy the work of their hands they
shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the lord and their descendants with them before they call I will answer while they are yet speaking I will hear the wolf and the lamb shall graze together the lion eat straw like the ox and the dust shall be the serpent's food they shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain this is evidence that this that the thing is true the the point of the story of scripture the deep cosmic truth that's held our
people since before the words of the apostles creed is that there is a god it's not you and this world is not enough it's falling and passing away and in the person of christ on his cross he accomplishes a resolution of all your failures and resurrects a hope for you that lasts forever the testimony of paul is just to receive it
just stop counting up your holiness or porting out others failures to bet on the cross and live as though it were true now and tomorrow and the next day until he returns
let me pray that like paul we could be people of faith hey lord thank you for the testimony of paul and for your work on the cross make it real for us this morning that we could rest in your provision your protection your future and your forgiveness in Jesus name we pray